Hundreds of young Americans have now been killed by the coronavirus, data shows

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/08/young-people-coronavirus-deaths/?fbclid=IwAR3B42bmsXsL3iPyKzgPnpiAlj1H0tkpaBrqq3LWpIlLWu4oyErSGGeQgLQ

By
Chris Mooney,
Brady Dennis and
Sarah Kaplan
April 8, 2020 at 2:58 p.m. EDT

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He also was among at least 759 people under age 50 across the United States who have perished amid the deepening pandemic, according to a Washington Post analysis of state data. These deaths underscore the tragic fact that while the novel coronavirus might be most threatening to the old and compromised, no one is immune.

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For the very young — people under the age of 20 — death is extremely rare in the current pandemic. But it happens: The Post identified nine such cases.

The risk appears to rise with every decade of age. The Post found at least 45 deaths among people in their 20s, at least 190 deaths among people in their 30s, and at least 413 deaths among people in their 40s.

Determining a precise number for each category is difficult because of the divergent ways states present age groups. But The Post found at least 102 other deaths that occurred among people younger than 50.

The true number of deaths among young people is probably even higher. Not all states provide data on coronavirus deaths sorted by age group. Some, like New Jersey and Texas, provided figures after being approached by The Post, while others, like California, did not. As a result, the figures above do not include data from some states, including several with sizable outbreaks.

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What has profoundly struck Evans and his colleagues is the seeming randomness of the type of young people who are unable to fight off the disease.

“A very fit 30-year-old triathlete is just as vulnerable as a chess-playing 45-year-old who gets no exercise,” he said. “We just don’t know who it is that this virus carries the master key to.”

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